Welles (musician)

Jesse Wells (born 1994/1995), known professionally as Jesse Welles or simply Welles, is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born in Arkansas, Welles released his debut studio album Red Trees and White Trashes, on which Dave Cobb served as a producer, in 2018. Welles previously performed under the name Jeh Sea Wells, and was also the frontman of the bands Dead Indian, formed in 2012, and Cosmic-American, formed in 2015.

In 2024, Welles garnered attention on social media for authoring and performing folk protest songs; he has released the singles "Cancer" and "The Olympics", as well as "War Isn't Murder", a protest song about the Israel–Hamas war.

Early life
Welles was born and raised in Ozark, Arkansas, near Northwest Arkansas. He lived for some time in an art commune in the mountain areas around Fayetteville.

Career
Under the name Jeh Sea Wells, Wells began his career around 2012, releasing home-made recordings of his music, putting them up on sites such as SoundCloud and Bandcamp. He formed the band Dead Indian in 2012, along with Dirk Porter and Simon Martin. In 2014, he released a song titled "Summer", and shortly afterwards, another song titled Xmas 97.

In 2015, Welles moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to record songs with producer Dave Cobb. That same year, Welles released a cover of the Nirvana song "Heart-Shaped Box".

Dead Indian released two albums, Lead Me to the Sky and When We Live, as well as one EP, Grey, during their tenure. It was announced Dead Indian was to break up on July 21, 2015, after one last concert, which was held on August 7, 2015, at The Smoke & Barrel Tavern in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They released one final collection of covers they frequently played live, Far Out, about a month later. In September 2015, he and Dead Indian drummer Simon Martin formed a new band called Cosmic American along with Skyler Greene and Blake Foster. They played three songs on Fayetteville Public Television in April 2016, which was uploaded to YouTube. The band began recording an album but broke up before it was released after playing a final show on July 15, 2016.

In March 2017, Welles released a song titled "Life Like Mine" from his then-upcoming EP titled Codeine on C3 Records. In May 2017, Welles released a music video for the song "Life Like Mine", from the EP Codeine. Under the mononym Welles, he released the single "Rock N Roll" in April 2018, in promotion of his then-upcoming debut studio album Red Trees and White Trashes. Cobb served as a producer on the album, which was released on June 15, 2018, by 300 Entertainment. Reviewing the album for NPR, music critic Ann Powers wrote that, "Red Trees and White Trashes has the heft and complexity to likely earn a few Grammy nominations; but it's also obvious that Wells will always be comfortable in some dirty rock and roll kitchen where, as he says in one song, 'everyone's kinda ugly in that way that looks pretty,' girls in blue bobs are smoking something illegal, and somebody's turned the amp up to 10 on the other side of the screen door."

Welles has opened for such rock bands as Dead Sara, Greta Van Fleet, Rival Sons, and Royal Blood. In February 2019, Welles performed as a headliner at Schubas in Chicago, Illinois.

In 2024, under the name Jesse Welles, he garnered attention on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok for his folk protest songs about topics including capitalism, microplastics and the fentanyl crisis in the United States. He has released the singles "Cancer" and "The Olympics", along with "War Isn't Murder", a protest song about the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.

as Jeh Sea Wells
Albums
 * Indian Summer (2012)
 * When We Die (2013)
 * Demonstrations (2015)
 * Chaff (2016)
 * Gemini Sweethearts and Daisy Chains (2016)
 * Pall Mall Church (2016)
 * All of Life is Piss (2017)
 * Space Camp Summer 18 (2018)

EPs
 * So We Kept Looking (2013)
 * non-essential business (2020)
 * Q2 (2020)
 * Joe Dirt Cobain (2020)

Singles
 * "1 a.m." (2012)
 * "Big Grey Sky" (2013)
 * Summer (2014)
 * "Xmas 97" (2014)
 * "Don't Let Me Down" (2020)

as Welles
Albums
 * Red Trees and White Trashes (2018)
 * Arkancide (2022)

EPs
 * Codeine (2017, C3 Records)

Singles
 * "Are You Feeling Like Me" (2017)
 * "Seventeen" (2018)

as Jesse Welles
Albums
 * Hells Welles (2024)

Singles
 * "Cancer" (2024)
 * "War Isn't Murder" (2024)
 * "The Olympics" (2024)
 * "Fentanyl" (2024)
 * "Whistle Boeing" (2024)
 * "Payola" (2024)
 * "Happy Mother's Day" (2024)
 * "Fat" (2024)
 * "God, Abraham, and Xanax" (2024)
 * "Dupont" (2024)
 * "The News" (2024)
 * "The Poor" (2024)
 * "See Arkansaw" (2024)
 * "Depression" (2024)
 * "New Moon" (2024)
 * "Innit to Win" (2024)
 * "Assassination Attempt" (2024)
 * "Fear Is The Mind Killer" (2024)
 * "That Can’t Be Right" (2024)
 * "St. Steve Irwin" (2024)
 * "Mr. Joe" (2024)
 * "My Little Town" (2024)

with Dead Indian
Albums
 * Lead Me to the Sky (2013)
 * When We Live (2014)

EPs
 * Grey (2013)
 * Far Out – The Covers (2015)

with Cosmic-American
EPs
 * Out Far (2015)